


and women like hunting witches too (doing your dirtiest work for you)

by Lilsciencequeen



Series: folklore [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Baby Teddy Lupin, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Happy Ending, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Remus Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks Live, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: “She’ll be fine,” Madame Pomfrey reassured, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “She’s strong, she’s a fighter.”// Remus and Tonks, post-Battle of Hogwarts
Relationships: Remus Lupin & Ginny Weasley, Remus Lupin & Teddy Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Series: folklore [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064426
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37





	and women like hunting witches too (doing your dirtiest work for you)

Her body was immobilised. She was unable to move, unable to escape.

And she was in pain. She was in so much pain. She could feel everything that was being inflicted on her and by God was it painful. It was intense. It was the worst thing that she had ever experienced, feeling that blade carving into her arm. And there was nothing that she could do to stop it. The blood that trickled around her arm, creating horrific bracelets, was warm as were the tears that streamed down her face. 

Every instinct in her body told her to fight, to break free but there was nothing - **nothing** \- that could be done. All she had to do was wait. Wait and remain silent because she was not going to give her aunt the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Of hearing her cry.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, the knife retreated, the shadow of her aunt vanishing, and then she was alone. Something that terrified her more than Bellatrix being there because if Bellatrix was there, at least she knew where the threat was. What could potentially happen but being alone… she couldn’t escape. She couldn’t defend herself, couldn’t do anything if she was threatened or placed in danger.

All she could do was lie here, the stone of the courtyard cold and unyielding beneath her. Waiting for whatever came next. Waiting for whoever came next and it was in this moment of respite that she finally allowed herself to cry, the tears that had been held back for so long now finally breaking free.

Because she didn’t want to die.

Death terrified her, and over the last few years, she had had more than a few close encounters. But none like this.

None with as much at stake as this time. 

Teddy… Remus. She couldn’t lose them. Losing them - it made her sick to her core. Caused her insides to twist and turn. 

Teddy couldn’t lose his mother. She knew the pain of losing a parent, just what that did to someone. The hurt that it caused, the black hole in her heart. The emptiness. It was a pain that would never she heal from and it was a pain that she wouldn’t let her son suffer. Teddy, he wasn't going to lose any of his parents. 

If anyone deserved peace, a life with no pain and horror - it was Teddy. He deserved a life full of peace and happiness.

“Please help.” The two words escaped her as a desperate plea. A cry for help.

She had to get out of her.

She was dying.

She _knew_ she would die if she didn’t get out of here.

Her aunt had put her through such hell that her death would be slow and agonising. It would make her suffer. 

Not that that should be a surprise. It was something that was a trademark of Bellatrix. It was a punishment, revenge for who she was. What she had done.

What her mother had done.

She was going to suffer.

She was going to die.

And she needed help to stop this, to prevent this from happening but she was in the corner, hidden behind some rubble and she could hear no one around her. And all she could see was the sky, the dawn finally breaking through the dark, the battle leaking from the night into the day.

Nobody was going to come to her. Nobody was going to find her and all she could do was give one more cry for help before the darkness that had been lapping at the edges of her vision swallowed her.

***

“She’ll be fine,” Madame Pomfrey reassured, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “She’s strong, she’s a fighter.”

Lupin looked up at the matron, taking her attention away from his wife for only the briefest of moments and gave a nod of thanks, before turning his attention once more to Tonks. She looked so small lying there in the hospital bed, but so at peace.

Her breathing was slow, her chest rising and falling gently. There was dried blood in her hairline - something that, if he weren't too scared of hurting her, he would have cleaned by now. But instead, he just sat there and watched the rising and falling of her chest. Watched as she took breath after breath. She was alive, and he needed to see that needed to keep seeing it. Needed that reassurance that she was alive and nothing would happen to her.

When they had first found her, he was terrified that he had lost her. There had been so much blood and she had seemed like she would shatter but after the hard work of Madame Pomfrey and the Healers that had been brought in, she was resting and recovering. It had taken nearly two hours for them to treat the rest of her injuries but once he was allowed in to see her, he had immediately taken the chair beside her bed and took her hand in his own. 

The morning was slowly turning into the afternoon now but still, he kept up his constant vigil, not wanting to leave in case something, anything happened. Healers came back and forth to the room, offering him tea from time to time but he respectfully declined each offer. He didn’t want to take his attention off her, not even for one moment. 

When the door opened again, he was expecting another healer or even someone from the Order but he wasn’t expecting to see Ginny Weasley. 

Grabbing one of the empty seats, she spun it around and took up a silent watch with him. Moments passed, dragging into moments before he finally spoke. “I’m sorry.” When Ginny looked at him with red eyes and an exhaustion that he had not seen before, he continued. “About Fred.”

She gave a nod of thanks. “It’s hard. Being down there with them.” A sigh escaped her, one that wavered as though she were fighting back tears. “I just wanted to escape. To get away from it all.”

“You can stay here. She's still sleeping but they think that she should be awake in the next couple of hours.” A soft smile tugged at Ginny’s lips though it looked like it was a struggle for her. And it was a couple of moments later that Ginny spoke again.

“How’s Teddy?”

And it was Lupin’s turn to smile. He couldn't help it. The sense of joy, the pride the flowed through him whenever Teddy was mentioned… he wasn't use to it yet and it was something that he was sure he would never get used to. And if he was being honest, he didn’t want to get used to it. He loved the sensation of just being so proud of his son. His own child. “He’s fine. I managed to get in contact with Dora’s mum earlier. He’s slept as well as he could he just…”

“Misses you?” 

“Yeah, yeah. He adores Dora. He gets restless without her.”

“Harry told me he’s godfather. He’s… scared. Excited.” A soft snort of laughter escaped from her. “I don’t think any of us were expecting…” She gestured around them. “All of this.” Her words had been quick, stumbling over one another and it was then that Lupin realised that she wanted to talk. She wanted a distraction so that she didn’t have to think about the fact that she lost one of her brothers.

“He was the only one that we trusted - the one that we wanted to take care of Teddy if things had gone wrong.” He heaved a sigh and turned to look at Ginny. It was hard to believe that she was no longer the twelve-year-old that he had met when he had started teaching at Hogwarts. She was no longer small, somewhat frightened. She had grown and developed over the years. Had fought in so many battles and did things that he never could have did when he was that age. Had helped to bring about the end of the Second Wizarding War. She had brought about change, a better future but deep down, he wished that she didn’t have to go through all of this. Wished that she didn’t have to the know the pain and loss that came with war. The traumas that it brought.

But if there was anyone who could work through it, overcome and conquer the storms the next weeks and months, potentially even years, would bring, it would be Ginny.

“Does it get easier?” 

Her question pulled him back into the present, his mind no longer on the future. And the question itself threw him, though he should have expected it. He had suffered loss, had suffered so much pain. Pain that he knew that he would carry until he himself died. And Ginny, well she just wanted reassurance that this wouldn’t crush her for the rest of her life.

“Yes. Over time it does get easier. What you’re feeling now won’t last forever. There’s going to be days when it’s worse. Days when it hurts so much and when the storm cloud over your head feels like its never going to go away. But don’t let that darkness consume you. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Talk to people. We’re all here. Your friends. Your family. Talk and keep talking. Don’t bottle it all up, okay?” 

It took a moment for her to process his words, for her to acknowledge what he was saying, but then she nodded in agreement, knowing that what he was saying was the truth. Knowing that what he had just told her was important but she spoke no more.

And without really meaning it, the two of them fell back into a comfortable silence.

***

It was another five hours before Tonks woke up. Ginny had left not soon after, wanting to give the couple some time together. It had been slow going at first, with Tonks both disorientated and still in pain but after a glass of water and a potion to soothe the pain, she was now sitting up in the bed, the pillows helping to prop her up. She was exhausted, she was in pain but she was alive. 

And she was cradling Teddy, holding him gently in her arms, one of which was still in pain from what her aunt had done, the bloodied mark covered in soft white gauze.

“I know you’re looking at me like that,” she said, turning her attention from her son to her husband. He looked almost as bad as she was, battered, bruised and exhausted. But he was sitting there. He was alive. They both were.

“Like what?” And when he asked, she couldn’t tell if he was being honest or if he was trying to hide something.

“Like that. Like your blaming yourself for what happened. Like this is all of your fault.” She shook her head. “You can’t blame yourself for this Remus.”  
“But I feel guilty…” He ran his hands through his hair and closing his eyes before running them across his face. “Dora, you could have died. You could have been bleeding out and I was just… I wasn’t there for you.”

“No.” The one word from her was stern. She wasn’t taking his answer. Because feeling guilty about what had happened, it wasn’t going to change what had happened. Though she had been through hell, had been on the brink of death, she was alive and was wanting to take the next steps forward. To begin her recovery and work on dealing with the horrors she had just been subjected too. “Remus, please don’t do this. Don’t blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. You didn’t know I was injured…”

“But I should have…”

“Remus, I’m alive. We’re alive and I know that we have a long road ahead of us, that recovery is not going to be easy, but we’re alive and we have each other. We’re _always_ going to have each other.”

Teddy fussed in her arms, clearly moved by the words he didn’t understand. He lifted one arm in the arm, before settling back into his mother’s arms and falling asleep once more. And it was this movement, this moment that distracted both of them.

That made them forget about all the horrors that they have been through. 

“He’s going to grow up to be the best,” Tonks whispered, using one finger to caress her sons face. “He’s not going to known war or fear or violence. He’s going to know peace and love. He’s going to know so much love.”

“He is.” The two words from Lupin were words of agreement and he rose from his chair, the wooden legs scraping against the ground as he did so, and climbed into the bed next to her. She leaned forward slightly so that he could get comfortable before sinking back down against him, leaning in close to him as he wrapped an arm around her.

“We’ll get through this,” he told her, as her head came to rest on his shoulder, his lips pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“We will” she confirmed, knowing that the journey would be long and hard but for now, she would enjoy this moment, thankful that she was alive.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope that you guys enjoyed this one. Feel free to leave a comment to let me know, but if not have a pleasant day :)


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